Flood-hit Jorvik Vikings move next door

An exhibition from York’s Jorvik Viking Centre will move to nearby York St Mary’s in a partnership with York Museums Trust.

York St Mary’s is a medieval church which opened as a contemporary visual art venue in 2004.

Jorvik is currently closed, following flood damage in December 2015, and is expected to re-open in spring 2017.

The exhibition, which will run until early 2017, focuses on the trade that made York a powerful centre of international commerce.

Sarah Maltby (pictured left), director of attractions for York Archaeological Trust, said: “Even though Jorvik Viking Centre itself has been closed for over five months, we are still getting hundreds of people coming along every day with a thirst for Norse knowledge, so having a fantastic exhibition that tells a key part of Jorvik’s commercial story literally in the adjacent building is a great way of keeping the story alive, whilst we continue to rebuild and re-imagine the attraction beneath their feet.”

The new exhibition will be entitled Jorvik: Home & Abroad, and will feature a wide range of artefacts taken from York’s Viking collections, alongside tableaux taken from the Jorvik Viking Centre displays which remained above the waterline during last December’s floods. The exhibition will also provide a temporary home for Jorvik’s team of historic costumed interpreters, who will share their knowledge with visitors.

Mike Woodward (pictured right), chief operating officer for York Museums Trust, said: “It makes perfect sense to use York St Mary’s as a venue for a new Viking experience while the centre is closed, as many of the finds were discovered very close by.

“We hope to build on the partnership for a year of the Vikings in 2017, with the Jorvik Viking Centre reopening and a major exhibition on the Viking history of Britain being planned at the Yorkshire Museum.”

Jorvik: Home & Abroad will run from June 25 until late February 2017, when the artefacts start to return to Jorvik Viking Centre.